A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 39

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 970

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When he was ready to begin the practice of his profession he moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota, and there devoted himself to legal work for two years. At the end of that period he changed his residence to Devil's Lake in the same territory, where he remained five years. In 1889 he sought and found a larger field of opportunity by moving to Butte, Mon- tana, and there he has ever since resided and extended his professional work. His first engagement in Butte was in the service of William A. Clark, and on Novem- ber 1, 1907, he was elected secretary of the Millmen and Smelters' Union, a position which he still occupies and in which he has gained a wide reputation.

Mr. Fluent was married in Nashua, Iowa, on May 26, 1881, to Miss Maggie Critchfield. a daughter of Rev. Asa Critchfield, the well-known clergyman of that place. Four children have been born of this union : Floyd C., whose life began at Devil's Lake, North Dakota, on December 24, 1886, and who is now a stu- dent in the law department of the University of Michi- gan; Harvey, also born at Devil's Lake, on January 28, 1889; Lucinda, a native of Butte, Montana, born on August 18, 1892; and Russel, also born in that city on January 18, 1896, and who is now a student in its high school and making a fine record in his classes.

Ost Loud

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Mr. Fluent is a leading member of the Butte Camp of the Woodmen of the World. He also belongs to the great organization known as the Western Federa- tion of Miners, and, as has been stated, is secretary of the Butte Union of Miners and Smelters. He is a Republican in political faith and allegiance and a Presbyterian in church connection. He is universally regarded as a man of the strictest integrity, and is very popular in Butte, Silver Bow county and throughout the northwest, especially with the adherents of organ- ized labor of all crafts.

HON. CHARLES H. LOUD. One of the most prominent citizens of Miles City, a man for many years a leading member of the bench and bar, and one who has been called to fill numerous positions of public trust and great importance, Charles H. Loud, ex-judge of the Seventh judicial district, has won the respect and con- fidence of the people to a marked degree, and in bear- ing testimony to his real worth, the biographer is but voicing the sentiments of the entire community. Judge Loud was born at Weymouth, Norfolk county, Massa- chusetts, November 20, 1858, and is a son of Cyrus and Betsey (Loud) Loud, also natives of the state. The family is widely known in the New England states. and during colonial days furnished a number of soldiers for the Continental army during the War of the Rev- olution. Cyrus Loud was a manufacturer of boots and shoes at Weymouth, Massachusetts, and there his death occurred in 1897. He and his wife, who survives him, had two children: George B. and Charles H.

It was the intention of Mr. Loud's parents that he receive the advantages of a collegiate training, and with that end in view was prepared in the public schools for Harvard. Circumstances, however, were such that he did not enter that famous institution, but began to prepare for the practice of law in the office of Judge E. C. Bumpus, at Weymouth, with whom he studied nine months. He then identified himself with civil engineering work in the office of the city surveyor of Boston, where he remained three years, gaining an excellent practical and technical knowledge. At the expiration of that period he became an employe in the engineering department of the New York & New Eng- land Railroad, with which he remained one year, and in 1880 entered the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad as leveler in an engineering corps operating in the construction of the new line. For three years he was identified with construction work on this road, and was assistant engineer on the Park branch from Livingston to Cinnabar. Returning then to the east, in company with capitalists he organized the Hereford Cattle Company, and on coming back to Montana acted as manager for this firm in the cattle business on Pumpkin creek, a tributary of Tongue river. In 1886 they met with severe losses, and Mr. Loud eventually withdrew from the company. In 1889 he located in Miles City, resumed the reading of law, was admitted to the bar in 1891, and engaged in active practice. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1889 which framed the organic laws under which Mon- tana was admitted to the Union, and in 1890 and 1891 represented Custer county in the lower house of the state legislature, so that he has been intimately con- nected with the framing of both the constitutional and statutory laws of Montana. He later served two terms as county attorney, and in 1896 he was elected to the bench of the Seventh judicial district, comprising the counties of Yellowstone, Custer and Dawson. He was unanimously re-elected to this office in 1900, having been nominated on both the Republican and Democratic tickets, and served with dignity and ability in the posi- tion until January 1, 1909. The Republican party and its principles and candidates have always received his stanch and unqualified support, and for many years he has been known as one of the leaders of the organiza-

tion in his community. At present he is acting as a member of the high school board, and is also president of the Carnegie Public Library. He has been prominent in Masonry for a number of years, and now belongs to Yellowstone Lodge, No. 26, A. F. & A. M .; Miles City Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M., Miles City Com- mandery, No. 11, K. T., of which he is past eminent commander; and Algeria Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Helena. In addition he is a charter member of Miles City Lodge, No. 537, B. P. O. E. During the regime of Governor Richards, Judge Loud served as a mem- ber of his military staff. Although his duties as a public official have demanded the greater part of his attention, Judge Loud has also found time to interest himself in business matters. He has been vice-president of the State National Bank of Miles City, a member of the firm of Lakin, Westfall & Company, engaged in a general mercantile business at Miles City, and senior member of the firm of Loud & Hitzfeldt, in the cattle business in Custer county.

On December 21, 1886, Judge Loud was married to Miss Georgiana W. Burrell, who was born in the state of Massachusetts, daughter of Joseph W. Burrell, and they have two daughters : Katherine and Margaret A.

FREDERICK M. MJELDE, treasurer of Park county, Montana, who both as public official and prom- inent citizen has rendered signal service to his city and county, occupies a foremost position among the men who are striving to advance the interests of this part of the State. He was born in Dane county, Wis- consin, August 15, 1896, and is a son of Knud J. and Marie M. (Halverson) Mjelde. His father was born in Bergen, Norway, June 17, 1833, and came to the United States in 1861, landing in New York City. During the same year he made his way west to Dane county, Wisconsin, where in 1862 he enlisted in Com- pany B, Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry, for three years or during the war, but on ac- count of disability received an honorable discharge and returned to Dane county. In his native country he had learned the trade of shoemaker, and this he fol- lowed at Black Earth, Wisconsin, until 1886, in the winter of which year he came to Montana, but during the following spring returned to Wisconsin, and until 1901 was engaged in business at Black Earth. He then removed to Chicago, Illinois, where his death occurred February 10, 1912. He was a faithful mem- ber of the Norwegian Lutheran church, a stanch Democrat in politics, and a valued comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic. In Madison, Wisconsin, he was married to Marie M. Halverson, who was born at Eidsvold, Norway, and to them there were born nine children, of whom eight are living: Benjamin; Herbert J .; Matilda, the wife of Frank S. Weary; Frederick M .; Hannah J., wife of Dr. H. L. Foster ; John N .; Nora; and Volberg.

Frederick M. Mjelde was educated in the public schools of Black Earth, Wisconsin, and Luther Col- lege at Decorah, Iowa. He earned his first money digging potatoes at twenty-five cents per day, but in 1889 began his life work by teaching school in Mel- ville, Park county, Montana. Two years later he be- gan to clerk, and for a period of years was employed in various capacities and localities, but in 1902 came to Livingston and became clerk in the office of the divi- sion superintendent of the Northern Pacific Railroad, where he was employed for eight years, or until his election, in November, 1910, to the office of treasurer of Park county and was re-elected county treasurer in 1912. In 1908 Mr. Mjelde was elected alderman from the second ward of Livingston, and succeeded himself in that office in 1910. He is a Democrat in politics, and is known as one of the active and influ- ential party workers in this part of Park county. Fra- ternally he belongs to Livingston Lodge No. 17, I. O.

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O. F., Lodge No. 539, Loyal Order of Moose; Yellow- stone Lodge No. 10, K. of P., and Zephyr Camp No. 151, W. O. W. He has proven himself a faithful, efficient and conscientious official and is known as a citizen who is at all times ready to support any measure which has for its object the betterment of Livingston or any of its interests. His home is situ- ated at No. 331 South Seventh street.

Mr. Mjelde was married September 26, 1893, to Miss Jocasta E. Hunter, who was born in Muskegon, Michi- gan, daughter of Dr. Edgar J. and Eva M. (Davis) Hunter, and the eldest of their three children. Dr. Hunter came to Livingston in 1887 as an employe of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and here died in Aug- ust, 1888. His widow subsequently graduated from the Kirksville (Missouri) College of Osteopathy, and is now successfully engaged in practice in Livingston. She has taken a great deal of interest in educational work, and has served as superintendent of schools of Park county for two terms. Mr. and Mrs. Mjelde have two children: Edgar F. and Evalyn M.

CHARLES SUMNER PASSMORE. The biography of Charles S. Passmore is a narrative which is of peculiar interest to the general reader, both for his ancestry and for the achievements of his varied and successful career. His has been as diversified a life history as could well be found, even in this country of surprising accomplishments. He was born in Cecil county, Mary- land, on July 11, 1858, the son of Ellis Persey and Mary E. (Lincoln) Passmore, natives of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and of the good old Quaker stock, whose children have a birthright in the old Wil- liam Penn church. This is a heritage which Mr. Passmore jealously maintained for many years.

Ellis Passmore was a prosperous dairy farmer in Maryland for years, but after the death of his wife at Rising Sun, in the year 1889, he went from Maryland back to his native state and retiring from business, remaining at Nottingham until his death. The Passmores trace their ancestry back to a Norman who went to England with William the Conqueror, and settled in Berkshire. In 1717, the family came to America, and here as in France and England, they were people of influence. The mother's family, too, has been one to bear an active part in the history of America. Mrs. Passmore's maternal grandmother is an aunt of honorable Hugh McVeagh, U. S. Attorney General under President Garfield. In the present gen- eration, one of Mr. Passmore's brothers, Lincoln K. Passmore, is the vice president of the Union League Club of Philadelphia, and also vice president of the Pennsylvania Mutual Life Insurance Company of Phil- adelphia.

Charles Passmore was reared on his father's farm and educated by private instructors and in the public schools. There is a Friends Academy in Rising Sun, and he also attended this institution. Upon finishing the course there he decided to go to the Millersville, Pennsylvania Normal School, and he earned the money for this by teaching in the public schools. In. the year 1880, he began his mercantile experience in a wholesale cracker house of Philadelphia. He soon left this posi- tion for a better one with the marine exchange.

The next work in which Mr. Passmore was engaged was that of supervising the extensive improvements at what is now Lake Coma, New Jersey, a summer resort, but then only a rugged and desolate locality. In 1883, Mr. Passmore found himself in Fargo, North Dakota. and from here he went to the new town of Page. His capital amounted to less than a hundred dollars, but he became associated with a schoolmate, W. L. Brown, and at once bought lots and put up some buildings. Later they conducted a general merchandise business with great success for four years. It was during his stay here that he met Miss Susie M. Came, who after-

ward became his wife. She was born near Portland, Maine, and her parents, Joseph and Nancy (Blair) Came were of Scottish descent. She and Mr. Pass- more were married on December 8, 1886, and shortly afterwards, Mr. Passmore disposed of his interests in Page, and bought an interest in a hardware and roofing business at Salem, Ohio. The hundred dollars with which he had begun at Page had grown to $4,500.

Mr. Passmore remained two and a half years in Ohio, but this venture was not as successful as his other enterprises had always been and he concluded to go west again. He came to Butte in September, 1889, with ten dollars in cash, and borrowed one hundred to make his first payment on an interest in the S. V. Kemper Real Estate firm. This was then Kemper & Jeffries, and seven months later, Mr. Passmore bought out Mr. Jeffries. The time was favorable and Mr. Passmore had the foresight and the good judgment to enable him to make the most of his opportunity. A large portion of the city had just been destroyed by fire, and in the rebuilding, Mr. Passmore did a large and profitable business. Since then, he has been alone in his work except for occasional periods when he has taken a partner for a short time.

Real estate does not occupy all of Mr. Passmore's time. He is extensively engaged in building, and it was he who inaugurated the plan of building on the install- ment plan in Butte. He is the general agent of the American Bonding Company and of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, Liability Department, and New Jersey Plate Glass Insurance Company. He also con- ducts a fire insurance agency, and has charge of the business of the Title Guaranty Company of New York, and is general agent of Preferred Accident Company of New York. Mr. Passmore's agency is the oldest fire insurance agency in Butte and the largest general agency in the state. For many years in connection with the business he has conducted an architectural department. One of the most valuable of Mr. Pass- more's real estate holdings in the city is the Maryland block, on West Quartz street, erected in 1898. He also owns a fine ranch of three thousand acres in Mussell- shell valley.

Mr. Passmore is nonpartisan in political convictions. He is a member of the Masonic order, and has attained not a little distinction in the Royal Arcanum, in which he has served as Deputy Supreme Regent of the state. He has served as Grand Chief Templar of the state of the Independent Order of Good Templars, for three years. The Presbyterian church of Butte has in the Passmore family some of its most liberal and active members. Four children have been born of the mar- riage of Mr. and Mrs. Passmore, Blair S., who died at the age of nineteen years, while a student at Swarth- more College; Paul B .; Linnie E .; and Abigail. Mr. Passmore is a worthy representative of a worthy race, and he bids fair to leave behind him, those who shall continue to add honor to the name which has so long and so honorable a history.

WILLIAM L. JOHNSON, president of the Cascade Laundry Company of Great Falls, Montana, was born in Porter county, Indiana, near Chicago, on August 14, 1872. He is the son of Adolph Johnson, of Swedish birth, who came to America as a young man and settled in Indiana, where he became well and favorably known as a farmer of importance. He was killed in an accident in Minneapolis in 1884 when he was but forty-nine years old. The mother, who was also a native of Sweden, died in Minneapolis in May, 1906, when she was sev- enty-seven years of age. Of the six children born to them. William L. of this review was the youngest.

Reared in Minneapolis, whither the family had moved in his youth, William L. Johnson attended the schools of that city and in 1880. when he was nineteen years of age, he first visited Montana, coming to Great Falls

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and becoming interested in the laundry business. He began as a delivery boy, and giving his best attention to the work, was soon promoted to a position carrying with it more importance. He was promoted from time to time, until finally he became a member of the firm, and he is at present president of the Cascade Laundry Company, having been elected to that office in 1909. He is recognized as a power in the concern. The com- pany is incorporated under the laws of the state, and is one of the most prosperous business houses in Great Falls today.

Mr. Johnson is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is affiliated with the Congregational church, of which his family are also members. He is a Republican with regard to political sentiment, although he has never taken undne activity in the affairs of the party in his county. He is well known to a large circle of friends in which he is regarded most highly, and his standing in the business community is a most enviable one.

Mr. Johnson was married in September, 1898, to Miss Ann Rothwider of Great Falls. Six children have come to them. They are: Evelyn, born in 1899; William Irwin, born in 1902; Blain, born in 1904; Leland, born in 1908; Donald and Dorothy, twins, were born in 1911. The three eldest are in attendance at the schools of Great Falls.

JAMES R. BROWN, experienced engineer and for a number of years manager and part owner in the Car- bon Coal Mines Company, while not a native product of the state of Montana, was practically reared in the state. He was born in Lawrence county, Missouri, on the first of May, 1880, and with his parents came to Montana, settling near Great Falls, when he was nine years of age. He is the son of William T. and Lydia (Roberts) Brown, the father a native of Virginia, and the mother of Virginia. They were married in Lawrence county, Missouri, and there lived until their removal to Montana. in 1889. They first located at Great Falls, but later settled in Sand Coulee, where the father engaged in coal mining, and where the family home is still maintained.

Of the five children born to William and Lydia Brown, James of this review was the first born. He attended the schools of Great Falls after the family settled there and later of Sand Coulee, concluding his studies when he had reached the age of fifteen years. He first went to work in the mines after leaving school, and continued thus for about four years, when he became interested in the study of engineering and began to devote his attention to it. For the past twelve years Mr. Brown has been following engineer- ing with most excellent success, and in recent years he formed a partnership with George Wilson and John Hacket, organizing the Carbon Coal Company, with Mr. Brown as manager of the concern. The company is in a prosperous and healthy condition, and the daily output of the mines is from one hundred and fifty to three hundred tons, employing an average force of forty-five miners. In busy seasons, however, the force is increased to sixty men. The work is conducted along the most improved and safe methods, and the engineering skill of the manager is brought into espe- cial significance in the affairs of the company.

On August 15, 1900, Mr. Brown was united in mar- riage with Miss Georgina Allen, daughter of William Allen, of Iowa. Three children have been born of their union: William, born in September, 1902; George, born in 1904 and Kathleen, born in 1909.

Beyond his membership in the Knights of Pythias, Mr. Brown has no fraternal affiliations, and takes no undue interest in the political affairs of his community. He shares in the usual responsibilities of a good citi- zen of his town, fulfilling all the duties of life in the quiet and unostentatious manner characteristic of the man.

CHARLES F. BAKER. Long and successful experience in business has placed Mr. Baker among the leading merchants of Montana, with which state he has been identified for more than twenty years. As president of the Chester Trading Company he is an influential citizen of one of the thriving new towns in the north- western part of the state.

Charles F. Baker was born at Goshen, Indiana, August 3, 1859, and his early education was obtained in the Catholic schools. His parents were John and Katrine (Ahinger) Baker. The father, a native of Germany, when a young man came to America about 1845 and was one of the early settlers in northwestern Indiana. Farming was his occupation, and he was a prosperous citizen of one of the leading counties of the state. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army, was wounded in action, and at the close of the war received an honorable discharge. His death occurred in 1907 at the advanced age of eighty-nine. The mother, also a native of Germany, died in Indiana in 1906, aged eighty-seven.

Charles F., who was the second of four children, has been engaged in the practical affairs of merchandis- ing and other business from the time he left school in Indiana. For two years he was in the drug business, then for two or three years with a hat, cap and fur store, then for seven years in the clothing trade at Wauseon, Ohio, had a similar business at Bryan, Ohio, three years, and was for a year and a half in the general merchandise business at Pioneer, in the same state. In 1889, the year of Montana's admission to the Union, Mr. Baker came to this state and entered the employ of Ben Harris of Helena. In 1892, moving to Great Falls, he began working for Nate Wertheim, with whom he remained for sixteen years. In 1908 Mr. Baker purchased of Bourne & Hamilton a general store at Chester, and by his business capacity and energy has developed this into the large and well known Chester Trading Company, of which he is presi- dent. He managed his store all by himself at the start, but now employs five men to assist in attending to the trade. Alexander Wright and John Laird were both business partners in this concern.

Mr. Baker was married in Wauseon, Ohio, in 1885, to Miss Jennie L. Sherwood, and they are the parents of three children, namely: Walter, who was born at Bryan, Ohio, in 1888; Charles H., born at Pioneer, Ohio, in 1890, and now a resident of Great Falls; and Helen S., born at Helena in 1892.

As a citizen Mr. Baker has been known for his public spirit, and Montana has no more loyal citizen than this Chester merchant. He is Republican in politics, and served as postmaster for Chester in 1909. He is a blue lodge Mason, and his wife is a member of the Congregational church. Hunting and fishing are his outdoor forms of recreation, which he indulges when he can find time from a very busy life.

MALCOLM GILLIS. Although of Scotch parentage and Canadian nativity, Malcolm Gillis, postmaster of Butte since 1907, is none the less a loyal and patriotic Ameri- can citizen, and is as earnestly and devotedly interested in and attached to the institutions and principles of government of the land of his adoption as he ever could have been to those of either the land of his nativity or that of his ancestry. True, he has lived in this country from his boyhood, but in many similar cases the feel- ings of the parents and their love of their home country have some effect in overbearing the entire devotion of their offspring toward the land of their own residence.

Mr. Gillis was born in Morris, Canada, on April 30, 1862. He received his early education in the district schools of Michigan and was graduated from the high school of that state, to which state his parents inoved while he was yet very young, at the age of eighteen. A short time afterward he went to work for the Quincy Mining Company, with which he remained four years. In 1889 he secured employment in the service of the

Vol. 111-3

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Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, in Calumet, Mich- igan, where he served two years in the machine shop, preparatory to going into the pumping station or power house for the forementioned company. He remained there until 1889 when he came to Montana, first locat- ing at Anaconda, where he resided for a short time and then, in December, 1889, came to Butte, which city has since been his home. Here he entered the employ of the Butte and Boston Mining Company where he remained fifteen years, when he entered the employ of the Boston and Montana Mining Company. He then decided to go into business for himself, and after care- fully looking over the field of opportunity selected the hay, grain and coal trade as his line. He started in business in Butte, taking as a partner in the venture F. A. Crase. They began operations on a small scale, with only two delivery teams and a total capital of about $2,000. Their business increased so rapidly from the start and at the end of eighteen months, upon the death of the late Hon. George W. Irvin, postmaster at Butte, Mr. Gillis was tendered the office of postmaster by his old friend, President Roosevelt. He therefore sold his interest in the business establishment, to his partner, for $7,500. In 1911 he was re-appointed by President Taft. One of the strong recommendations he had for his first appointment was a close personal friendship with Mr. Roosevelt which he enjoyed, and another was his intimate acquaintance with the late Colonel Wilbur F. Sanders and a number of other notable persons of national reputation. He stands very high in Montana, and has been a progressive and popular postmaster.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 39

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883- Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 970

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 970